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Nature
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Aesthetics and beauty[edit]
Pinguicula grandiflora, commonly known as aButterwort Beauty in nature has historically been a prevalent theme in art and books, filling large sections of libraries and bookstores. That nature has been depicted and celebrated by so much art, photography, poetry, and other literature shows the strength with which many people associate nature and beauty. Reasons why this association exists, and what the association consists of, are studied by the branch of philosophy called aesthetics. Beyond certain basic characteristics that many philosophers agree about to explain what is seen as beautiful, the opinions are virtually endless.[70] Nature and wildness have been important subjects in various eras of world history. An early tradition of landscape art began in China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). The tradition of representing natureas it is became one of the aims of Chinese painting and was a significant influence in Asian art. Although natural wonders are celebrated in the Psalms and the Book of Job, wilderness portrayals in art became more prevalent in the 1800s, especially in the works of the Romantic movement. British artists John Constable and J. M. W. Turner turned their attention to capturing the beauty of the natural world in their paintings. Before that, paintings had been primarily of religious scenes or of human beings. William Wordsworth's poetry described the wonder of the natural world, which had formerly been viewed as a threatening place. Increasingly the valuing of nature became an aspect of Western culture.[71] This artistic movement also coincided with the Transcendentalist movement in the Western world. A common classical idea of beautiful art involves the word mimesis, the imitation of nature. Also in the realm of ideas about beauty in nature is that the perfect is implied through perfect mathematical forms and more generally by patterns in nature. As David Rothenburg writes, "The beautiful is the root of science and the goal of art, the highest possibility that humanity can ever hope to see".[72]:281 Matter and energy[edit] The first few hydrogen atom electron orbitals shown as cross-sections with color-coded probability density Main articles: Matter and Energy Some fields of science see nature as matter in motion, obeying certain laws of nature which science seeks to understand. For this reason the most fundamental science is generally understood to be "physics" – the name for which is still recognizable as meaning that it is the study of nature. Matter is commonly defined as the substance of which physical objects are composed. It constitutes the observable universe. The visible components of the universe are now believed to compose only 4.9 percent of the total mass. The remainder is believed to consist of 26.8 percent cold dark matter and 68.3 percent dark energy.[73] The exact nature of these components is still unknown and is under intensive investigation by physicists. The behavior of matter and energy throughout the observable universe appears to follow well-defined physical laws. These laws have been employed to produce cosmological models that successfully explain the structure and the evolution of the universe we can observe. The mathematical expressions of the laws of physics employ a set of twenty physical constants[74]that appear to be static across the observable universe.[75] The values of these constants have been carefully measured, but the reason for their specific values remains a mystery. Beyond Earth[edit] Planets of the Solar System (Sizes to scale, distances and illumination not to scale) NGC 4414 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices about 56,000 light years in diameter and approximately 60 million light years from Earth Main articles: Outer space, Universe and Extraterrestrial life Outer space, also simply called space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies.Outer space is used to distinguish it from airspace (and terrestrial locations). There is no discrete boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and space, as the atmosphere gradually attenuates with increasing altitude. Outer space within the Solar System is calledinterplanetary space, which passes over into interstellar space at what is known as the heliopause. Outer space is sparsely filled with several dozen types of organicmolecules discovered to date by microwave spectroscopy, blackbody radiation left over from the big bang and the origin of the universe, and cosmic rays, which include ionized atomic nuclei and various subatomic particles. There is also some gas, plasma and dust, and small meteors. Additionally, there are signs of human life in outer space today, such as material left over from previous manned and unmanned launches which are a potential hazard to spacecraft. Some of this debris re-enters the atmosphere periodically. Although the Earth is the only body within the solar system known to support life, evidence suggests that in the distant past the planet Mars possessed bodies of liquid water on the surface.[76] For a brief period in Mars' history, it may have also been capable of forming life. At present though, most of the water remaining on Mars is frozen. If life exists at all on Mars, it is most likely to be located underground where liquid water can still exist.[77] Conditions on the other terrestrial planets, Mercury and Venus, appear to be too harsh to support life as we know it. But it has been conjectured that Europa, the fourth-largest moon of Jupiter, may possess a sub-surface ocean of liquid water and could potentially host life.[78] Astronomers have started to discover extrasolar Earth analogs – planets that lie in the habitable zone of space surrounding a star, and therefore could possibly host life as we know it.[79] See also[edit] Force of nature Human nature Natural history Naturalism Natural law Natural philosophy Natural resource Natural science Natural theology Nature reserve Nature versus nurture Nature worship Naturism Physical law Universe
Media: Natural History, by Pliny the Elder Nature, by Ralph Waldo Emerson Nature, a prominent scientific journal National Wildlife (magazine), publication of the National Wildlife Federation Nature (TV series) Natural World (TV series) Download 1.25 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
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